Did China discover America?

是中国发现了美洲吗？

以下是Quora网友的评论：

Tan Choon Wei

I do have a copy of Gavin Menzie’s 1421. I read it, and I do not agree with some of the points of the book. What I could speculate now, is that the only facts we now truly know is that the Chinese did sail through South East Asia, passing Malacca to India, and went to Africa for the furthest extend. About crossing the Atlantic, I don’t quite believe there might be a possibility for the Chinese, but I do still think there “is a slight possibility” for the Chinese to discover — accidentally, like how Colombus accidentally find America but was originally intended to go to India. The map that the author claims that is made from 1418, mostly be a fake, cause to be honest, compared with the Mao Kun maps (truly made by Zheng He’s fleet), there is still some slight diferrences, example the accuracy of the cartographing.

我有一本加文·门齐的《1421》。我读了这本书，但我不同意书中的一些观点。我现在可以推测的是，我们现在真正知道的唯一事实是，中国人确实驾船穿过东南亚，经过马六甲海峡到达了印度，最远甚至抵达了非洲。至于穿越大西洋，我不太相信中国人有这个能力，但我仍然认为中国人有“一点点可能性”——偶然发现，就像哥伦布本来打算前往印度，却偶然间发现了美洲大陆一样。作者所称的1418年绘制的地图，大半是假的，说实话，跟茅洪的地图(郑和船队绘制的地图)相比，还是有一些细微的差异，比如制图的精确度。

When Zheng He left China, the Ming Dynasty was prosper. However, when he returned, the Ming Dynasty was plagued by corruption, and was a nearly ruined country. He was shocked, as when he was expecting to have a lot of people greeting him when he returned like when he left, he would not expect to have saw barely some people greeting him, and his country, once prosperous, now mostly ruined.

郑和离开中国时，明朝繁荣昌盛。等郑和回来的时候，明朝的腐败问题已经很严重，几乎将国家推向毁灭。郑和十分震惊，他还期待着等他回来时，会有很多人像送他离开时那样欢迎他，结果没有想到几乎无人迎接他，而他的国家已从繁荣走向毁灭。

Jonathan Dough

Related

What year did China discover America?

中国是哪一年发现美洲的？

The Chinese discovered America in 1552 when the Jesuit mission arrived in China.

Despite claims otherwise, the Chinese never discovered the Americas on their own, which is why American crops like corn and sweet potato show up in China only decades after Columbus. All alleged claims of Chinese discovery of the Americas are not supported by real facts.

1552年，当耶稣会使团抵达中国时，中国人发现了美洲。

尽管有其他说法，但中国人从未靠自己发现美洲，这就是为什么玉米和红薯等美国作物在哥伦布发现美洲的几十年后才出现在中国。所谓中国发现了美洲大陆的说法并没有事实依据。

David Farnsworth

Related

Did China find America first?

是中国先发现美洲的吗?

No.

There is a wild theory that the early 1400s exploration vessels of the Ming Dynasty, which went as far as the east coast of Africa, actually continued on around the south of Africa and on to the east coast of the Americas.

This theory fails utterly due to lack of evidence. (Not that this stops people from speculating…)

不是。

有一种荒诞的理论认为，15世纪早期最远只到达了非洲东海岸的明朝探险船，其实还继续绕行非洲南部到达了美洲东海岸。

由于缺乏证据，这个理论完全站不住脚(但这并不能阻止人们做此猜测……)。

Linus Skov

Related

Is that true that the Chinese were the first to discover America and Australia long before Columbus and Captain Cook?

中国人早在哥伦布和库克船长之前就发现了美洲和澳大利亚，是真的吗？

No. I cannot find any evidence for this position.

Australia wasn’t “discovered” by anyone until the Dutch ship Duyfken under captain Willem Janszoon reached it in 1606. That’s the first recorded contact, but there is evidence to suggest that fishermen from the Malay Archipelago/Maritime Southeast Asia.

不是真的。我没有找到能支持这种观点的任何证据。

1606年威廉·扬松船长驾驶荷兰船杜伊夫根号抵达澳大利亚时，澳大利亚才第一次被世人“发现”。这是历史上对澳大利亚的首次记载，但也有证据表明来自马来群岛/东南亚海域的渔民发现了澳大利亚。

America wasn’t in contact with the outside world until Leif Eriksson, a Norse sailor and explorer, reached it approxmately at the turn of the 1st millennium. A couple of centuries later, Columbus reached Central America.

直到大约在第一个千年之交，挪威水手兼探险家雷夫·埃里克森才首次抵达美洲，美洲才开始与外界接触。几个世纪后，哥伦布抵达了中美洲。

Matt Riggsby

Related

Why didn't the Chinese discover America if they undertook voyages of discovery long before Columbus, and can travel to the West?

如果中国人早在哥伦布之前就进行了发现之旅，并且有能力航行到西方，为什么中国没有发现美洲呢？

“if they undertook voyages of discovery”

They more sort of didn’t. Not like that, anyway. And it wasn’t that long before Columbus.

"如果中国人早在哥伦布之前就进行了发现之旅"

他们极有可能并未完成这次发现之旅。也不可能比哥伦布早那么多发现新大陆。

In the early 1400s, the Chinese undertook a series of expeditions with a grand “treasure fleet.” While there was an element of finding things out, these voyages were political and economic more than they were exploratory, seeking to engage in trade while acting under cover of establishing “tributary” relationships in the ports they visited. Moreover, they didn’t seek out entirely new discoveries. They followed Indian Ocean trade routes which had been established for centuries. The Chinese already had a general idea of what they were getting into. Traveling into the unknown east, then, would not have served much of a purpose. They knew of nothing in that direction, and sending an immense fleet that way just on the off chance there might be something interesting would have been a huge waste of resources.

15世纪初，中国人派出一支庞大的“宝船舰队”进行了一系列的海上探险。虽然也会发现新事物，但这些航行更多的目的在于政治和经济，而非勘探疆土，他们在访问的港口打着建立“朝贡”关系的名号进行贸易。他们沿着已经通航了几个世纪的印度洋贸易路线继续前进。中国人已经对他们将要进入的区域有了大致的了解。那么，前往未知的东方，就没有多大意义了。他们对那个方向一无所知，把一支庞大的舰队派往那个方向，只为了碰碰运气，期待也许会有什么有趣的发现，这是对资源的巨大浪费。

And, ultimately, after that brief few decades of getting more deeply involved in the Indian Ocean, the Chinese withdrew. Ming policy changed, shifting in an isolationist direction, leaving the field open to Europe. Had things gone on longer, perhaps there might have been an expedition up along the Asian coast, past Korea to Siberia and eventually across the Bering Strait to Alaska, only a few tends of miles farther on. But they lost interest a long time before that was even remotely possible.

于是在那短暂的几十年时间里，中国曾深入参与到印度洋的事务中，随后中国退出了海上探险活动。明朝改变了国策，开始走向孤立，把舞台留给了欧洲。如果当时中国继续航行，也许会碰巧沿着亚洲海岸航行，经过朝鲜到达西伯利亚，最终穿过白令海峡到达阿拉斯加，也就是再走几英里的事。但早在很久之前，中国人就失去了兴趣。

Ronnie Hoye

From what I understand.

Man originated in Africa, from there, over a period of thousands of years he spread to the rest of the world.

Eventually he reached the far North East of Russia, and crossed the Bering Stait into Alaska, and then down through the continents of North and South America.

据我所知。

人类起源于非洲，经过几千年的时间，人类从非洲移居到世界各个角落。

最终，人类到达了遥远的俄罗斯东北部，越过白令海峡进入阿拉斯加，然后向下穿越了南北美洲大陆。

In 1947, the Thor Heyerdahl’s Kon Tiki expedition proved that man could have crossed the Pacific on rafts, setting out from South America, they could have reached the islands in the Pacific.

All this of course is ‘Best Theory’ but what is almost certain is that as far as Europe is concerned, America was discovered about 1,000 years ago by Leiv Ericson, sailing a Viking longship.

1947年，托尔·海尔达尔的康奇基探险队证明，人类可以乘木筏穿越太平洋，人类从南美洲出发可以到达太平洋上的岛屿。

以上这些当然都是“最理想的理论”，但几乎可以肯定的是，美洲是大约1000年前由雷夫·埃里克森发现的，当时他驾驶的是一艘维京长船。

Jere Lull

There have been rumors over the years, but last I saw it discussed, there was no firm proof, or evidence that wasn’t highly suspect. Similarly, I’ve heard that Polynesians or Africans might have sailed to the Americas instead of, or in combination with, Far eastern Asians walking across the Beringia land bridge. Evidence of that was anomalous DNA found in South American natives, IIRC.

这些年来总能听到这种传言，但上次我看到有人在讨论这件事，可是并没有确凿的证据，甚至没有可疑的证据。同样，我还听说波利尼西亚人或非洲人可能是乘船抵达美洲的，并不是通过白令陆桥。这个说法的证据是人们在南美洲土著人身上发现了异常DNA。

Ronald Weinger

If it is true that Native Americans are descended from Asians who came across the Bering Strait then it is possible that the Chinese, or a people related to the Chinese “discovered” America.

如果美洲原住民是穿越白令海峡的亚洲人的后裔，那么很可能是中国人或与中国人有关的民族“发现”了美洲。

Ty Lee

Let’s look at arguments from two viewpoints.

China discovered America first

China did not discover America first

让我们从两个角度来看：

中国是第一个发现美洲的国家

中国不是第一个发现美洲的国家

Viewpoint 1

观点1

Menzies (A historian) claims that the map above is from 1418, and that Admiral Zheng discovered the Americas.

The map has a layout of various rivers and towns in the Americas. I’m not sure about the rivers but the towns look to be accurately placed.

孟席斯(历史学家)声称，上面的地图是1418年的，郑和发现了美洲。

这张地图上有美洲各种河流和城镇的布局。我对河流的位置不太肯定，但城镇的位置看起来很准确。

Viewpoint 2

观点2

This is a more well supported viewpoint, endorsed by many historians. The key arguments they present to disprove the map are:

这是一个证据更为充分的观点，得到了许多历史学家的认可。他们对地图提出反驳的主要论点是：

The map is in a style that belongs exclusively to Europe

California is represented as an Island, as is the case on most European maps from the 17th century.

The Himalayas are marked as the tallest mountains (They were not discovered yet). But Chinese folklore does exst from ancient times, that points towards the exstence of the Himalayas.

It is too accurate to belong to the time

这张地图采用了欧洲独有的绘制风格

加利福尼亚在地图上是一座岛屿，17世纪后大多数欧洲地图都是如此。

喜马拉雅山在地图上是最高的山(当时还没有被发现呢)。但在中国民间传说自古以来就存在，表明喜马拉雅山脉的存在。

这张地图的绘制太精确了，不太可能出自那个时代

What I think

There’s really no point in arguing who discovered the Americas.

We don’t have a definition of ‘discovering’. Did the Siberians who crossed the Bering Straits discover America? Did the Vikings of Vinlandsaga discover America?

It’s a confusing debate, but if we talk about discovery in terms of a cultural expedition, then the evidence points overwhelmingly towards Columbus and Co.

我的想法

针对谁先发现了美洲，这种争论真的没有意义。

我们并没有对“发现”进行定义。是穿越了白令海峡的西伯利亚人发现了美洲吗？或是维京人发现了美洲吗？

这是一个令人困惑的争论，但如果我们从文化探险的角度来谈论“美洲大陆的发现”，那么绝大多数证据都偏向哥伦布和他的同伴。

David Salvia

The Chumash people of California discovered America about 13,000 years ago. There is evidence of earlier discovery, but the Chumash still live there.

About 1980 it was discovered that the Maya initially settled on the west coast of the Americas over 4000 years ago, in fishing villages along the Yucatan Peninsula. Among the discoveries was some pottery that closely resembled that of a contemporary Chinese culture.

加利福尼亚的丘马什人大约在13000年前发现了美洲。我们也有关于更早“发现美洲大陆”的证据，但丘马什人至今仍然生活在那里。

1980年，人们发现玛雅人在4000多年前就开始定居在美洲西海岸尤卡坦半岛沿岸的渔村了。在考古发现中，人们找到了一些陶器，与当代中国文化非常相似。

William Hennigan

No. Menzies stands debunked. There is no Chinese map or mention in the Zhong He travels or within the Ming archives.

“Discover” means getting back with the news. The Vikings were the first to get back, but they gave up and never really committed them selves to North America. Columbus was the first create a discovery to do that. So, he deserves the credit.

不，孟席斯的说法被推番了。《郑和游记》和明代档案中都没有中国地图或记录。

有“发现”，就必然会有新闻呈报。维京人是第一个往回走的，但他们中途放弃了，从未真的跟北美洲建立起关系。而哥伦布是第一个完成发现的人，所以，他值得称赞。

The Siberians came early and late, but apparently never went back. The Siberians are not Chinese/Han/Huaia. It also defies logic that there were no other people in North America when they arrived.

It is also my opinion that the people of South American are not Siberians but people from South East Asia,, but they never were able to get back.

西伯利亚人一直往这里来，但再也没有回去过。西伯利亚人并非中国人/汉人/华夏人。他们到达北美洲时没发现其他人的说法也不合逻辑。

我还认为，南美人不是西伯利亚人，而是来自东南亚的人，但他们没有返回东南亚。

Tim Sabin

In a way, yes. A very long time ago, the sea level was low enough that what is now the Bering Straight was then the Bering Land Bridge. Many people living in Asia (I assume that included some from China) migrated across the land bridge to North America. Some stayed in the north and became today's Eskimos. Others migrated southward and became the Native Americans, Mayans, and Aztecs.

在某种程度上，是的。很久以前，海平面很低，现在的白令海峡在当时还是白令海陆桥。许多生活在亚洲的人(包括一些来自中国的人)越过大陆桥来到北美。一些人留在北美，成为今天的爱斯基摩人。其他人向南美迁徙，成为美洲原住民、玛雅人和阿兹特克人。